What is Participatory Budgeting?

Participatory Budgeting was first introduced in the 1980's in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It was introduced as a method to encourage more popular participation and redirect government resources to communities where it was needed most. It is now recognised internationally as a way for communities to have a say in how public money is spent.

The Scottish Government support Participatory Budgeting (PB) as a tool for community engagement and as a method in line with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act (2015). There has been significant focus from the Scottish Government on their ambition to devolve decision making to local communities.

Local authorities across Scotland have a target to allocate 1% of annual budgets by PB processes. In West Dunbartonshire local people already engage in a variety of different ways to influence and direct resources. Examples include, through tenant participation or Community Budgeting. The PB Mainstreaming approach looks to strengthen and expand such opportunities.

By using a participatory budgeting approach, we aim to:

o Encourage residents to play a greater role in spending decisions. o Improve services and service delivery by enabling residents to express what is important to them and how it can be achieved. o Widen engagement with the community by ensuring all members of our community have a voice. Engaging actively with those who may face barriers to having their voice heard. o Build community by inspiring residents to engage with each other within their communities and to create new networks, organisations, and opportunities. o Strengthen democracy by complementing representative democracy.